3 ms·

Someone needs to reinvent the bookshelf. Storing books needs to be more space efficient while still allowing access. Looking good is an important bonus. As is b

Someone needs to reinvent the bookshelf. Storing books needs to be more space efficient while still allowing access. Looking good is an important bonus. As is being relatively cheap and portable. This is a yet unsolved social emergency.

justinlloyd 3y ago
I designed and built my own. Available in two varieties. Paperbacks and hardbacks. I swear that just about every book case I've ever looked at is designed by someone who doesn't own a lot of books, doesn't love books, and doesn't really think about books other than things that go on coffee tables or a few shelves. I made my book cases 26" wide, pine for the carcase, maple for the shelves that can be flipped over and work in any direction. 7' 8" tall, which means it will clear a standard height 8ft ceiling in just about any house in the US built in the last 50 years. Book case depth was either 6" deep or 8.5" deep depending on if the book case was meant to hold paperbacks or hardbacks. A single fixed shelf at the one third mark. Shelf pin holes every 1.5". Limited width of shelf means the span won't sag very much, maple has a high Jenka rating, so it doesn't sag as much as composites or fast growth pine. If the maple shelves do sag a bit over time, flip them over and then they can sag back the other way. If the front of the shelf gets dinged up, flip it around. The fixed shelf prevents the carcase from bowing out, and placing the shelf about 1/3rd of the way up permits maximum flexibility in shelf positioning. Interesting side-note, the paint on 30 book cases weighs more than 40lbs.
Zambyte 3y ago
My ~/documents/books folder is very quickly replacing my bookshelf. Integration with org-roam means my library can be massive and still accessible. It doesn't look particularly great though.
- telotortium 3y ago
  How do you integrate it with org-mode? I might be interested
  - Zambyte 3y ago
    I just use M-x org-store-link when I get somewhere in an ebook that I want to take a note on (this works most places in Emacs, not just ebooks). Then I use org-roam to capture the note, and link it to whatever I want to discover it from, so I can find the note later. There are other features / extensions like org-roam-bibtex and org-cite that I haven't quite integrated until my workflow, those also look useful for dealing with ebook references (and other kinds of references).
btilly 3y ago
I bought CD storage boxes, like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EFJY3U/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EFJY3U/, and then used both the lid and the box to put paperbacks in. Stored alphabetically, spine up. I then stuck those in cupboards. It is amazing how much more efficient this is for paperbacks than a regular bookshelf! And that reduced my problem down to one which a regular bookshelf could handle, albeit with some creative packing into the bookshelf.

justinlloyd 3y ago

I designed and built my own. Available in two varieties. Paperbacks and hardbacks. I swear that just about every book case I've ever looked at is designed by someone who doesn't own a lot of books, doesn't love books, and doesn't really think about books other than things that go on coffee tables or a few shelves. I made my book cases 26" wide, pine for the carcase, maple for the shelves that can be flipped over and work in any direction. 7' 8" tall, which means it will clear a standard height 8ft ceiling in just about any house in the US built in the last 50 years. Book case depth was either 6" deep or 8.5" deep depending on if the book case was meant to hold paperbacks or hardbacks. A single fixed shelf at the one third mark. Shelf pin holes every 1.5". Limited width of shelf means the span won't sag very much, maple has a high Jenka rating, so it doesn't sag as much as composites or fast growth pine. If the maple shelves do sag a bit over time, flip them over and then they can sag back the other way. If the front of the shelf gets dinged up, flip it around. The fixed shelf prevents the carcase from bowing out, and placing the shelf about 1/3rd of the way up permits maximum flexibility in shelf positioning. Interesting side-note, the paint on 30 book cases weighs more than 40lbs.

Zambyte 3y ago

My ~/documents/books folder is very quickly replacing my bookshelf. Integration with org-roam means my library can be massive and still accessible. It doesn't look particularly great though.

telotortium 3y ago
How do you integrate it with org-mode? I might be interested
- Zambyte 3y ago
  I just use M-x org-store-link when I get somewhere in an ebook that I want to take a note on (this works most places in Emacs, not just ebooks). Then I use org-roam to capture the note, and link it to whatever I want to discover it from, so I can find the note later. There are other features / extensions like org-roam-bibtex and org-cite that I haven't quite integrated until my workflow, those also look useful for dealing with ebook references (and other kinds of references).

btilly 3y ago

I bought CD storage boxes, like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EFJY3U/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EFJY3U/, and then used both the lid and the box to put paperbacks in. Stored alphabetically, spine up. I then stuck those in cupboards. It is amazing how much more efficient this is for paperbacks than a regular bookshelf! And that reduced my problem down to one which a regular bookshelf could handle, albeit with some creative packing into the bookshelf.